<p>My daughter is thinking about accepting admission at Carleton. It seems like a good fit for her in many ways. Reading the Carleton forum, I am seeing a majority of posts for science type majors. While my daughter has not made any firm decisions yet about her major, it most likely will be in the humanities or social sciences. Is Carleton a good choice for her based on these interests? There seem to be a number of very informed participants here so I thought I would get your feedback. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>margos:</p>
<p>You have little to fear. When Carleton talks about their strength in the sciences and the relatively large number of kids in these fields RELATIVE is a key modifier here. </p>
<p>Science/math kids are still very much in the minority at Carleton, just much less so than when compared with other top LACs where they can constitute a tiny amount of the student body (somtimes fewer than a fifth of a given class).</p>
<p>About 1/3 of kids major in bio, chem, math/CS, physics/astro, geology here. Of course, that means that 2/3, twice their number, major in the humanities, social sciences, and the arts. Biology was the number one major among last year’s sophomores declaring. But the rest of the top five are out of the sciences. For the class of 2010 (declared last spring - this year’s group hasn’t been analyzed yet):</p>
<p>Most Popular Majors</p>
<ol>
<li>Biology</li>
<li>Political Science/International Relations</li>
<li>Psychology </li>
<li>Economics</li>
<li>History</li>
<li>English</li>
<li>Chemistry</li>
<li>Math</li>
<li>Computer Science</li>
<li>Geology</li>
</ol>
<p>If it looks like a pretty balanced list, it is. In some ways, more university-like than LAC-like. </p>
<p>I doubt anyone declaring any major could feel out of place here. And I doubt any college takes greater pride in its successful promotion of individual expression and campus-wide tolerance than Carleton. Commenting last year on being the sole Latin American Studies major, Anna Losacano was not feeling all too lonely: It gives me some mystique, she said. Very Carl.</p>
<p>My daughter graduated from Carleton with a major in English. She is convinced that there is no better college on earth.</p>
<p>English actually falls into one of Carleton’s four “divisions of knowledge” called Arts & Literature. Anyway, yes, social sciences and humanities have a strong presence. The only department I (and several other people I’ve talked to, including majors) have found to be lacking is Sociology/Anthropology (aka So/An).</p>